...Someone once said that life is not a dress rehearsal. We only get one crack at it. Unlike a play at the theater, we don't have to follow a script, or worry about making a mistake. What we do have to accept is that we only get to do it once.You might think that the reason dogs enjoy every day is that they have a relatively short life. But the dogs probably don't know this. If dogs lived to be 100, they'd probably just have that many more days to live to their fullest. While we all wonder what heaven is going to be like, dogs live it. -- from Commandment V: Live for today

copyright W.R. Pursche 2004, 2012

We'll never know whether dogs ever think in terms of 'comparisons,' but as we watch a dog chew merrily on a bone, it's hard to imagine he is thinking "it's too bad this bone isn't as good as the one I had last week!" Instead, he seems to get 100 percent enjoyment out of that bone. In the same way, as a dog rolls around on the grass, he doesn't seem to be comparing his experience (and limiting his obvious joy) to another patch of grass or a prior experience. Dogs will exercise in any place, in any weather, in total enjoyment...

Dogs seem to be happy all the time, with no worries, no cares, living every day to the fullest. How do they do this? In this moving and uplifting work, W. R. Pursche examines how dogs live and translates their way of life into lessons for us to live by.Unlike other negative "rules" that are often thrown at us ("Don't do this! Don't do that!") these lessons are all appealingly positive. More than just a book of dog quotes or stories,and filled with examples from everyday life, Lessons to Live By: The Canine Commandments plainly shows how we can all benefit from the wisdom of dogs.Whether or not you have a dog or even like dogs, these memorable life lessons from dogs will provide you or someone you know with a straightforward and uncomplicated approach to living a happier and more fulfilling life.

The best way to make the world a better place is to first realize that you can.

-- from Commandment VIII: Make the World a Better Place

Dogs are tremendously flexible creatures. While they have their own personalities and perhaps preferences, they have an amazing ability to take what they are presented with and not only live with it but make the most of it. If a dog lies down on a rug and you take away the rug, he looks for another warm and soft spot on which to lie. Failing to find that, he lies on the hard floor. He doesn’t spend time whining about why you took the rug away. Put down a bowl of food, take it away and replace it with different (even if not as ‘tasty’) food, and if he’s still hungry he’ll eat that. It’s as if dogs just go with the flow of life, take what is before them, and enjoy it for what it is.-- from Commandment VI: Go with the flowLife is the journey itself...Life isn't something to be reached tomorrow; it is something to be experienced today. -- from Commandment VII: Life is the journey itself

There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle, or the mirror that reflects it.- Edith Wharton

Scroll down for more quotes and excerpts. You can also click on the book cover below to read the beginning of the book (will open in a new tab).